If God reads Pprune, Melchie, he should resurrect Speckled Jim for you as a reward.
I fear, however that the RAF is destined to have the leadership it has for some time to come. It's ingrained in the system. Our potential Airship must be singled out by the age of 30 so we start out with a very small gene pool of male, white, heterosexual (or, at least, have the 'right' sort of wife) aviators (probably Anglo-Saxon Protestants as well) since the people who wrote those first couple of ACRs that got our hero selected for the first rung of Jacob's Ladder were probably at the lower end of the RAF intellectual food chain. He (bugger diversity) must finish Flying Training and seriously impress on his first couple of tours (all you long term holders, forget it!).
He will then be pushed through the requisite command and staff tours in the full knowledge that he is on the ladder to the stars. By the time he is a Wg Cdr (35 - 40 ish) he knows that the rungs of the ladder are very shaky and it is very easy to fall off. Add to this even just a slight authoritarian personality and already, a lot of people underneath his overweening ambition are suffering.
To complete all the requisite tours, our hero barely has time to get his feet under one desk before he is moved on to the next. Doing anything novel, showing initiative or, in fact, doing anything at all are very, very risky activities. If you do nothing, by definition you can't cock it up, and with his fear of failure motivation (which is what got him noticed in the first place and is essential in moderation in junior avaiators), our hero never really gets the chance to achieve anything.
However, at each stage of the game, the gene pool is getting smaller: The good guys who actually want to achieve something with their lives other than scrambled egg, laughable Ruritanian imperial baubles and fawning subordinates move on to where they get the chance to actually do something and really achieve. Some die and some are persuaded by wives sick of packing every 18-24 months that there's a better life outside.
A few will have even committed career suicide by displaying integrity and pointing out that the Emperor is, indeed, bollock naked, silly boys!
The ones that reach the top are essentially the ones that are left in the gene pool. And they are the greatest and the system was intelligent enough to 'select' them so why change it?
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all. The odd war comes along and our hero may think he's got the chance to achieve, but all those above him must also stick their oar in - try changing doctrine in the middle of a campaign.
So you young guns, if you are 28-30 and have a couple of tours under your belt, get the 'right' sort of wife and jump on the escalator. It's not so much a climb as a ride, just don't be tempted to do anything, keep your trousers and your mouth zipped!
Last edited by An Teallach; 25th Jan 2005 at 12:47.